Honestly, I thought he's been pretty good other than the score sheet. He's been very responsible defensively, used his speed to create chances, and has been more physical than I expected him to play. The points will come, especially if he continues to get frustrated.

Jeez. I don't think the original poster said that he wanted to trade Crosby. Everyone always flips out. All he said was that Crosby was off to a slow start. Which he is...Not really anything else to add...

At 19, Sid was thought to be the best hockey player in the world. At 21, he has clearly fallen behind Ovechkin, and perhaps Malkin and several others. Ovechkin scores GOALS, which are more important than second assists. Ovechkin is a lot more exciting than Sid. Ovechkin shoots from everywhere. Sid always appears reluctant to shoot and when he does, he does not appear to have the hands of a big sniper. Regardless, he has to learn to shoot more optimally, i.e., not too much and not too little. He needs to use his great individual ability to get the puck on net or to the front of the net when perimeter passing is not generating chances. Don’t get me wrong. Sid is a great player, but he does not appear to be improving his game despite being only 21 (other than improving on faceoffs). I am not writing this because of a few frustrating games this season. I had these thoughts most of last season.

Honestly, they need to get Sid a good PERMANENT winger. Recchi (was to old), Army (not a good winger), Satan (older, decent but only signed for 1 year anyways), Hossa (good winger but again only played 1/4 a year with Sid). If it means not resigning Staal to free up money to sign a good young winger than so be it. The Pens dont need a 1a 1b and 1c center.

Bathgate wrote:At 19, Sid was thought to be the best hockey player in the world. At 21, he has clearly fallen behind Ovechkin, and perhaps Malkin and several others. Ovechkin scores GOALS, which are more important than second assists. Ovechkin is a lot more exciting than Sid. Ovechkin shoots from everywhere. Sid always appears reluctant to shoot and when he does, he does not appear to have the hands of a big sniper. Regardless, he has to learn to shoot more optimally, i.e., not too much and not too little. He needs to use his great individual ability to get the puck on net or to the front of the net when perimeter passing is not generating chances. Don’t get me wrong. Sid is a great player, but he does not appear to be improving his game despite being only 21 (other than improving on faceoffs). I am not writing this because of a few frustrating games this season. I had these thoughts most of last season.

Defensively, he's improved greatly. On faceoffs, he's improved. He's even picking his spots and shooting a little bit better so far this season, even though he hasn't potted a goal yet. I can think of several instances where he has shot the puck and I've thought to myself that the Sid of last season would have passed it off to another player or made a complicated play, rather than just putting the puck on net. As a fan, it's tough to see stars held off the scoresheet. I want Sid to get 4 points a night, every night, just like on NHL 09.

I feel like Sid is gripping the stick a little tight right now. I feel like Sid looks frustrated on the bench and on the ice. It seems like he doesn't have that fire that burned in him before right now, that's all. That was the original intent of my first post.

In today's NHL, it seems unbelievably difficult to make a solo effort that results in a goal. Ovie does it occasionally and so does Sid, but Ovie also has players who feed him the puck. Sid tries to feed other players the puck too much and doesn't put himself in a position to receive passes, score, or even make a second pass that results in a goal.

Pardon the coach-speak, but I think that Sid needs to be a little bit more selfish (don't set up the guys who aren't open and can't finish), but also needs to be more patient and wait for opportunities, rather than force a bad play, or take a low-percentage scoring chance that only results in the puck going the other way (i.e. no sustained pressure).

Sid's game is cycling down low and setting up players after a good sustained puck possession, or using his speed to generate offense off the rush. Sid would benefit from another player who can carry the puck into the zone and set up the offensive play, or from having another player take the puck up the ice off the rush and finding a soft spot in the offensive zone.

Don't forget to FIRE MT and TRADE SID too if he doesn't get the HT and 4 assists against Washington.

Guys the European trip couldn't have helped anyone. Our team had to completely adjust its play the first few games with no Gonch on the PP. Realistically in this new NHL I don't see one player being able to win the scoring title year-in-and-year-out. When Sid did win the Title Geno was on his wing a lot. When Geno almost won it, he was the number 1 guy. I don't know if either of them can win the scoring title centering lines 1, and 1a. It would just require too much scoring.

Oh come on. Malkin played like 10 games on Sid's wing? They'll both do good 5 on 5 but great on the PP. That's how it's been for Sid for some time.

Paekman wrote:I understand that we are 4 games into an 82 game season. I also understand that this team is still gelling, and that a shortened training camp and pre-season have not a had a positive effect.

Having said that, Sid has looked remarkably pedestrian and surprisingly frustrated over the first 4 games of the year. He hasn't been very creative, his decision making hasn't been the best and in general, I'm not seeing the fire from him that I'm used to seeing.

What does everyone think about this? I can't believe it's linemates. If you can put up 100 points with the likes of Racchi and Army, surely you can at least duplicate that effort with better wingers like Dupuis/Fedex and Satan, right?

I'm undoubtedly being a bit of an alarmist, but is anyone else noticing a difference so far this year?

Yeah he'll score at least 240 points with Dupuis and Satan instead of Army and Rex

Sorry, couldn't resist. Seriously now, I very much agree with your post. Something's fishy or he just needs some bounces and then be back as himself.

Bathgate wrote:At 19, Sid was thought to be the best hockey player in the world. At 21, he has clearly fallen behind Ovechkin, and perhaps Malkin and several others. Ovechkin scores GOALS, which are more important than second assists. Ovechkin is a lot more exciting than Sid. Ovechkin shoots from everywhere. Sid always appears reluctant to shoot and when he does, he does not appear to have the hands of a big sniper. Regardless, he has to learn to shoot more optimally, i.e., not too much and not too little. He needs to use his great individual ability to get the puck on net or to the front of the net when perimeter passing is not generating chances. Don’t get me wrong. Sid is a great player, but he does not appear to be improving his game despite being only 21 (other than improving on faceoffs). I am not writing this because of a few frustrating games this season. I had these thoughts most of last season.

The content of this post sucks, but there is some truth to it. 06/07 my own opinion and the general concesus on most places were that Sid was the best player in the world and living up to the "next one" hype. 07/08 he was still awesome but no longer the lone candidate for the best in the world title. No biggie though as he was injuried alot. Still, that season proved he was human.

This year he looks even less great.

Then again. One could say he was the best in 06/07, one of the best despite injuries in 07/08 and that we have no idea about 08/09 yet, and that'd also be true

Also maybe he is just feeling the pressure of producing points while making almost 9 million per year. So many hockey players tend to start off slow the first year of their new contract. Just give it some time. We went thru it last year with Vanek and he did ok as the season went on and already has 3 goals in 2 games this year.

Bathgate wrote:At 19, Sid was thought to be the best hockey player in the world. At 21, he has clearly fallen behind Ovechkin, and perhaps Malkin and several others. Ovechkin scores GOALS, which are more important than second assists. Ovechkin is a lot more exciting than Sid. Ovechkin shoots from everywhere. Sid always appears reluctant to shoot and when he does, he does not appear to have the hands of a big sniper. Regardless, he has to learn to shoot more optimally, i.e., not too much and not too little. He needs to use his great individual ability to get the puck on net or to the front of the net when perimeter passing is not generating chances. Don’t get me wrong. Sid is a great player, but he does not appear to be improving his game despite being only 21 (other than improving on faceoffs). I am not writing this because of a few frustrating games this season. I had these thoughts most of last season.

The content of this post sucks, but there is some truth to it. 06/07 my own opinion and the general concesus on most places were that Sid was the best player in the world and living up to the "next one" hype. 07/08 he was still awesome but no longer the lone candidate for the best in the world title. No biggie though as he was injuried alot. Still, that season proved he was human.

This year he looks even less great.

Then again. One could say he was the best in 06/07, one of the best despite injuries in 07/08 and that we have no idea about 08/09 yet, and that'd also be true

this year~ 4 games

I'll take a mediocre Sidney all the way back to the finals.

Tomorrow should be fun~ AO, rookie year once had more points than Sid during their head-to-head games.The onus is on AO to get his team back to the play offs and to go further. For Evgeni, has to perform great, game in/game out. Sidney does need to shoot more, but I am sure he feels it is up to him to jump the goal scoring of Satan.

Crosby practically had the same PPG rate as Ovechkin last year and probably would have run away with the scoring title if he hadn't injured his ankle. He led the playoffs in scoring. Where is this fall from grace? It's what have you done for me lately to the extreme because he missed a bunch of games last year and has had a slow start in... four games. I think it's very unfair to say he's flat lined after the MVP season. Who knows how last season as a whole would have looked if the ankle injury hadn't ruined his season? To me, he proved he was top dog over Malkin and Ovechkin after the playoffs last year. Any discussion about four games is irrelevant.

Henry Hank wrote:Crosby practically had the same PPG rate as Ovechkin last year and probably would have run away with the scoring title if he hadn't injured his ankle. He led the playoffs in scoring. Where is this fall from grace? It's what have you done for me lately to the extreme because he missed a bunch of games last year and has had a slow start in... four games. I think it's very unfair to say he's flat lined after the MVP season. Who knows how last season as a whole would have looked if the ankle injury hadn't ruined his season? To me, he proved he was top dog over Malkin and Ovechkin after the playoffs last year. Any discussion about four games is irrelevant.

Yeah like I said that's true as well (though I'm more worried about how Crosby's looked than his points total). Altough I don't agree he's the clear top dog among him, Malkin and Ovechkin. It's close and the case can be made for all three.

Pens started last season 3-7-2 or something crappy like that and only needed 2 more wins at the end of the year to win the stanley cup. Crosby didn't lead the league in scoring until mid-way during the season, the first game he got hurt in. Crosby will be tops on the scoring charts after the All Star Break, bar injury of course...and the Penguins always have that late season run where they win 10 of 12 and move up in the playoff seeding.

Henry Hank wrote:Crosby practically had the same PPG rate as Ovechkin last year and probably would have run away with the scoring title if he hadn't injured his ankle. He led the playoffs in scoring. Where is this fall from grace? It's what have you done for me lately to the extreme because he missed a bunch of games last year and has had a slow start in... four games. I think it's very unfair to say he's flat lined after the MVP season. Who knows how last season as a whole would have looked if the ankle injury hadn't ruined his season? To me, he proved he was top dog over Malkin and Ovechkin after the playoffs last year. Any discussion about four games is irrelevant.

Yeah like I said that's true as well (though I'm more worried about how Crosby's looked than his points total). Altough I don't agree he's the clear top dog among him, Malkin and Ovechkin. It's close and the case can be made for all three.

Ovechkin has the most to prove of the 3 of them, Crosby the least. Crosby has performed increasingly well when the stakes get higher. Neither of the other two can say the same.